Is there a cap on what level of a Sustaining Foci you can bind to yourself? I figured the Force would have been capped at your Magic rating or some other attribute but I'm not finding it. Hopefully I'm overlooking something but if not, can someone let me know if there is a cap for what Force of a Sustaining Foci you can bind to yourself and where it is?

Well, the first limitation is your Magic rating. It limits the total Force of bonded foci to MAG X 5. So, I guess if your magician had only the one focus, and he was MAG 6, it could theoretically be a Force 30 focus. Good luck keeping a great dragon or some damn immortal elf from commandeering that, though.

Other limitations would be availability and cost.

Well my attention was just toward 1 Focus specifically, I knew about the cap for the total Force of all your Foci. Obviously the higher the Force, the more attention you'll draw but it's just... Odd, that there's no individual cap.

Why? You can only cast spells to a certain Force anyway. If you really want a Force 12 focus, fine. But that's putting a lot of eggs (nuyen and Force) into one basket, and it'll be pretty darn hard to mask it to boot. And as a starting character, you can't go over a Rating of 6 / Availability of 12 anyway. Anything you gain access to after that is up to the GM. So if you do get that Force 12 focus, your GM is clearly okay with it.

Of course, I'm a fan of practical limits over forced limits anyway.

Absolutely.

there is always making one also but that alone cost a lot of time and money. A good tweeked mage with lots of foci can unbalance any game. So like everything that has been said before you need to ask your GM if he would like cap on it. Easily a starting mage could have Scoc 6 with a 2 spec, magic 6, and power foci 2. that is 14 to 16 die pool on a starting player which could do a lot of damage with that many dice.

Which is one reason I enforce the Digital Grimoire's Focus Addiction in Play rules. If my mages go over that threshold, I'll ask for a Log+will test at the end of the scene (with possible modifiers depending on how heavy the use was.) The current caveat, is that the mage has a magic 6, and Logic 2. Meaning she never can have enough foci active to reach the limit (so far. The fact I've been enforcing that limit has put her in tough situations, too.)

Bravo. There are always ways to keep a limit on Magicians without creating crazy scenarios. I applaud your efforts.

Well, I try. That particular mage also has an incantation geas, and no vocal chords. So, yeah...

Heh... Interesting.

It was her fault, really. She yelled at the Adept to do something, knowing there was a biodrone nearby (she assensed it earier), and then went out in the open to cast on it. Not my fault her initiative is so low the biodrone had time to take a delayed action...

Indeed...

^..~

Meaning?

You can get Foci above Rating 6, just not easily. You can make a Focus over Rating 6 if you choose, assuming that you have the Resources to do so. There are just none on the market, as these would tend to be personal in nature, and not something that someone would make for another. Sounds like a great plot hook to me.

Meaning that the first quote says that there's no limit, the second says that there is in fact a limit.

Anything beyond that falls into the realm of GM Fiat, or Rule 0.

And yet neither quote is Sourced. Hmmmmm............
Unfortunately, any gear is GM Fiat.

Availability limits are quotable. GM Fiat, however, can change those limits.

Probably because it's a basic, fundamental rule of the game. It's found within the first two paragraphs of the gear chapter, in fact, and is repeated throughout the rules, such as in the character creation chapter.

What was that? CHARACTER CREATION? Get my point? Nothing above Rating 6 AT START OF GAME. And I though that was a simple concept. Apparently I was wrong.

How about you go read my first post in the thread -- the one that was quoted in the post you quoted -- before continuing with your righteous indignation. It helps to know what you're actually replying to sometimes.

I know what I was replying to. And I know what your first post said (and that it agreed with my position). Unfortunately, in this case, yours was the quote that was used, because it was the one that made the least sense. You chose to reply to a question that I made of someone else. So I replied to yours since it was there. Sorry for any confusion...
No worries.

Welcome to Kindergarten.

A starting Mage can only have 12 or lower availability, which means that some foci can only be 2 to start with

Starting Foci max level:

Spellcasting 3
Counterspelling 3
Sustaining 3
Summoning 3
Banishing 3
Binding 3
Weapon 2
Power 2

If you take the "restricted gear" Quality you can raise one up by +2